GARDAÍ have claimed almost €32m in compensation and legal fees for injuries suffered during the course of duty in the past three years. The massive sums involved – almost a quarter of which have gone to solicitors and barristers – include both payments to garda who slipped in a puddle and another who was injured by a faulty car seat.

Payments range from just a couple of hundred euro to settlements of almost €1m, depending on their seriousness.

The highest payout from the last three years was the €1m in damages given to Garda Peter O'Connor, who was shot in the leg during a bank robbery.

The Scott Medal winner may lose his leg, a High Court hearing into the claim heard, and 57 shotgun pellets remain inside his leg.

A total of €24m has been paid out in damages for injuries suffered "maliciously" whilst on duty, the Department of Justice said.

A further €6.8m was spent on legal fees dealing with cases where gardaí were assaulted, shot at, bitten or stabbed while carrying out arrests.

Another €1.375m in damages and legal costs was also paid out to gardaí who suffered "non-malicious" injuries, that is accidents in the workplace.

The largest of these was a €75,000 settlement made to a garda who was injured by ricocheting bullets on a firing range.

The range at Garda Headquarters in the Phoenix Park has since been closed for renovations and officers now train on simulators or at Defence Forces facilities.

Almost 30 claims have also been received from gardaí for hearing loss suffered while undergoing weapons training since 2006.

Rise in deafness claims

Whilst not on the scale of the army deafness saga, there does appear to have been a rise in the number of cases this year, with 16 claims received in the first half of the year.

Most of the cases are being keenly contested by the Department of Justice, but damages have been paid out on several occasions.

A total of €11,000 – in settlements ranging from €2,000 to €5,000 – has been paid out to four officers this year for "garda deafness", with many other cases still in legal limbo.

Some of the specialist units of An Garda Síochána have also proved a compensation minefield, with a number of claims made by police injured riding horses or mountain bikes.

A €26,000 settlement was made with one officer who was being trained to use a bicycle, the Department of Justice has said. A number of other cases are currently pending.

Another garda is also suing the state after falling from a horse whilst on duty. No settlement has been made so far, but a €3,031 legal bill has already accrued.

Gardaí have taken cases for all types of injuries, some of which arose from the most unusual of circumstances.

A garda "struck by [a] digger" was awarded a total of €56,000, the Department of Justice said, with legal fees amounting to €11,146.

Another officer got hit by a shutter which "came down on him", but got just €956.51 in damages.

A garda who slipped in a puddle formed after a ceiling leaked did much better, claiming €14,690 in damages from the department.

Accidents involving chairs also feature regularly in compensation claims, with one officer paid €36,899 after falling from his seat, and another getting €28,000 after being injured by a "faulty car seat".

Cases currently pending against the Department of Justice this year include one from a garda who spilt "acid on [his] leg", an officer injured when a "tyre exploded and hurt him", and another from somebody hurt on the roof of a garda station.

Older cases already settled have seen gardaí compensated after being injured in cattle crushes, falling into potholes and walking into glass.

Much more substantial settlements are generally made with gardaí for "malicious injuries" suffered whilst on the beat.

Awards given for mental stress

Aside from the €1m shooting payout, another large settlement of €468,000 was made to a garda forced to retire early after a series of mishaps whilst on duty.

Liam Farrell, a former garda, said he missed out on a promotion to sergeant after being lured into a trap following a bogus phone call. A half-tonne wooden spool of cable was rolled out on to a roadway in front of the patrol car he was driving.

In March of last year, another garda was awarded €250,000 after finding the bodies of a young garda and a young soldier in Co Leitrim following a shootout with the kidnappers of supermarket boss Don Tidey.

Garda Desmond Sheridan suffered post-traumatic stress disorder arising out of the incident in 1983 and another shooting four years earlier.

Giving evidence about the aftermath of the shootout, he said: "I found this scene unbelievable, a dead young garda and a dead young soldier, both in uniform… I was numbed."

The gardaí involved do not have to have suffered physical injury, and mental anguish or stress is often enough to justify payment

Det Garda Dominic Hearns was awarded €55,000 after a two-year campaign by a man who wrote graffiti on toilet walls and hospitals claiming the officer was a paedophile.

The campaign began after the detective warned an individual to stop making bogus 999 calls. A man was later convicted of offences arising out of the claims.

Families of gardaí injured or killed on duty are also entitled to large compensation payments.

The widow of Det Gda Jerry McCabe – who was shot dead by the IRA – was awarded €624,205, while the family of Sgt Andy Callanan, who was killed after a horrific arson attack in Dublin, was given €1.09m.

Last year, more than €22,000 was awarded to the sister of a garda who was killed after a stolen car crashed into his patrol car. Angela Padden was given the compensation following the death of her brother Michael along with another garda, Tony Tighe, in April 2002.

One in 10 gardaí are currently suing the state for injuries suffered whilst on duty.

The Department of Justice now has plans to set up a Garda Compensation Tribunal – similar to one used to fend off army deafness – to deal with the claims. Labour TD Joe Costello said: "It's high time a compensation tribunal was set up so that swift decisions could be made on these types of claims.

"Far too many cases are going right through the court system only for a settlement to be made on the steps of the Four Courts.

"By that stage, they have gone through innumerable hearings leading to ever higher legal costs exactly as we are seeing with these figures.

"It is a serious issue the amount that is being paid out every year, and complaints like this need to be handled in a different way.

"These claims need to be sorted out at an early stage rather than allowing them to drag on as has happened for more than a decade.

"Early decisions with less legal payments would serve both the public interest and those members of the gardaí who suffered injuries whilst on duty.

"Paying retainers to solicitors or barristers over the course of years does not benefit anybody except the lawyers themselves."

The government currently has more than 1,200 compensation claims at hand from officers injured during the course of their work.

However, government sources have conceded there were many bogus cases. For instance, of 1,000 plus compensation cases taken in the past five years, 299 were rejected out of hand by the Department of Justice.

Ministerial approval

Compensation claims by members of the force rose by 85% in the past year. There were 317 cases lodged during the course of 2007 where an officer suffered death or personal injuries maliciously inflicted while on duty, while off duty, while on leave or because they were a member of the force.

All claims must first be approved by the Minister for Justice under the Garda Compensation Act before they are allowed to proceed.

The Garda Representative Association said the €32m compensation figure was not excessive, considering the "dangerous job" that officers had every day.

Michael O'Boyce of the GRA said: "The system needs to be streamlined and speeded up. We don't see the value in 25% of the money going out in legal fees.

"We are working closely with the Department of Justice to get a better system in place that protects the rights of claimants.

"The hope is for a Garda Compensation Tribunal where people could get in and out fairly quickly without a huge amount of cost and with adequate compensation.

"Obviously, the lawyers deserve to get paid for the work that they do, but it is bureaucracy that is currently creating most of the work involved."

The Department of Justice said they had no comment on the level of damages involved.

They said: "The awarding of compensation is solely a decision of the High Court. Therefore, we would have no comment to make on the actual amounts being awarded.

"[We] intend to bring legislative proposals to government in the near future with the objective of establishing a Garda Compensation Tribunal, which will deal with both minor and non-minor injuries."